


You're Free

by rakketyrivertam



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: All Tabaxi Are Autistic Coded, Baby Tabaxi, Cat Dad Caleb Strikes Again, Gen, Mentioned Infant Death, Mentioned panic attack, Nonbinary Child Character, Self Insert? No There's No Self Insert Here, Team as Family, accidental toddler acquisition, implied child slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 09:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20562230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rakketyrivertam/pseuds/rakketyrivertam
Summary: The Mighty Nein come across a Tabaxi child in a gnoll nest.





	You're Free

**Author's Note:**

> Heed the warnings, y'all, it's not graphic, but it's still there.
> 
> This is based on a dream I had where I died and was reincarnated as an NPC. In the dream, I was an adult, but reincarnation only seems to work that way with a dodeca, so I fiddled with the idea and got this. That being said, Yufree is only thinly based on me. I was definitely not this extraverted as a kid _or_ now.

They cleared out the gnoll nest quickly - they've had practice at this after all. Caleb thought of Molly as he had another panic attack, staring at another crispy gnoll corpse.

Suddenly, there was something soft and fuzzy draped over his back, purring loudly and calmingly. A voice shouted in his ear. "That was awesome!"

There was a small Tabaxi child clinging to his coat. Their fur was nearly the same color as Frumpkin's, but their eyes, though they reflected the Dancing Lights just as well as any cat's, were a dark brown, nearly black.

Jester squealed as she and the other girls came running.

"And what's your name?" Nott asked, crossbow at the ready just in case.

The child tilted their head, still purring. "What's a name?"

"It's something you say instead of 'hey, you!' when you want to get someone's attention. Like him, his name is Caleb. Caleb!"

Caleb smiled weakly. "Ja, Nott?"

Nott grinned and turned back to the child. "See?"

"Oh!" They rubbed their cheek against Caleb's shoulder then dropped to the ground. "They called me Hey-you-little-freak. Like 'Hey-you-little-freak, stop dawdling,' and 'Hey-you-little-freak, feed the babies,' and 'Hey-you-little-freak, you're going to be punished for killing all the babies.'"

"You killed babies?" Beau asked dubiously.

"Yeah, turns out feeding the babies means getting eat-ed by the babies, but I didn't want to get eat-ed."

Nott nodded wisely. "Well, I'll call you Yufree unless you change your mind and want a different name, because you're free now."

"What's changing your mind?" Yufree asked.

Caleb cleared his throat. "Have you ever wanted to do something and then started doing it and not wanted to do it anymore?"

"Oh, _yeah_. I really wanted to feed the babies, and then I _really_ didn't want to feed the babies anymore."

Caduceus rounded the corner with a newly-stabilized Fjord in tow. "Babies?"

Yufree shrugged. "Not anymore." They had to look straight up to meet Caduceus' eyes.

The two creatures tilted their heads in the same direction, seemingly perplexed by the other's appearance.

"You're really tall," Yufree declared after a long moment of staring. "I'm going to climb you." They hooked their claws in his long sleeve and hauled themself up to scarf around his neck.

Caduceus smiled patiently, reaching up a hand to make sure they didn't fall.

"So, Yufree," Jester cooed, "are you a little boy Tabaxi or a little girl Tabaxi?"

Yufree stared at her. "I don't know what any of those words mean and they all sound made up."

"Oh, so you're like Bryce, then," Fjord sneezed.

"I have no idea who that is but there's something really wrong with your nose. I don't think it's supposed to make those kinds of noises." Yufree twisted around on Caduceus' shoulders and batted at the end of his hair. "I've never seen this color before."

"Huh? Oh, it's called pink," Caduceus explained, with all the patience of a middle child. "Have you lived down here your whole life?"

"Yep, think so."

"You don't have a mom or dad?"

Yufree stopped and stared at him. "Whatsa mommerdad?"

"It's a person that looks after you."

"Oh, nope. You can be my mommerdad though. I bet you're really good at looking at things since you're so tall."

"Well, usually it's two people. One mom, one dad. Or it can be more than one. It all depends really."

"Oh, well, you can be my mom and the rest of you can be my dads. Now I have one mom and - one, two, three, four, five - five dads." Yufree turned and twisted to look at Caleb. "You're my favorite dad cause you smell kinda like me already."

Caleb ducked his head and mumbled something Zemnian under his breath.

Yufree's ear twitched and they turned back to Caduceus. "Are there more pink things?"

"Well, yeah," Caduceus said. "See, there's some pink lichen on my armor and my shield."

Yufree's eyes went wide as saucers. "Cool...."

"And there were some pink flowers outside."

Yufree gasped in delight and backflipped off Caduceus' shoulders, twisting in midair to land on their feet. "Come on!" They shouted, already running to the exit. "I wanna see what flowers are!"

"Can we keep them?" Beau whispered in awe.

Fjord sneezed.

Jester patted his shoulder comfortingly. "You can use the present Cali gave you!"

**Author's Note:**

> I really want to do more with Yufree, but I have a bad habit of not following through with multichapter fics but occasionally writing twelve connected one-shots, so I'm leaving it as is for now.
> 
> If you liked it, please let me know!


End file.
